The Malmedy Massacre

The Malmédy Massacre
occurred on December 17th 1944. The Malmédy Massacre
took place during the Battle of the Bulge
and was one of the worst atrocities committed against prisoners of war in the
West European sector during World War Two.

On December 17th, men from
Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were ordered to
move from Schevenhutte, near Aachen, to St Vith in the Ardennes. Their route
took them near to the town of Malmédy. On their
journey, on the N-23 St Vith road that passed to the east of Malmédy, Battery B
met up with Lieutenant-Colonel David Pergrin of the 291st Engineer Combat
Battalion.

Pergrin had heard that the
Germans were along the route which the men from Battery B were taking. He
advised them to take a different route to St Vith. However, the officers in
charge of the battery decided that they had their orders and, ignoring Pergrin's
advice, continued along their designated route.

This journey took them to
what the locals called the 'Baugnez Crossroads' - two miles south-east of Malmédy.
In fact, there were five roads there and to the Americans it was known as 'Five
Points'. A military policeman - and previously placed route markers - directed
the convoy along its way.

About half-a-mile from the
'Baugnez Crossroads', the first vehicles in the convoy were fired on by two
tanks from the 1st SS Panzer Division led by Joachim
Peiper. This unit was one of just two units in the whole Nazi military
allowed to use Hitler's name in its title - the 1st SS Panzer Division
Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. This unit had a
fearsome reputation and Peiper was known as a man who would let nothing stand in
his way of success - including the taking of prisoners. In the Russian
campaign, Peiper's unit was known as the 'Blowtorch Brigade' for its violence
towards civilians.

On this day in particular,
it is said that Peiper was in a particularly foul mood as his advance had not
been as successful or as swift as he had hoped. Though
the 1st SS Division had suffered few casualties in terms of manpower, it had
lost tanks and half-tracks in its advance as the US 99th Infantry Division had
put up a far stronger resistance than Peiper had bargained for. The two tanks
that fired on B Battery were under the command of SS Lieutenant Werner
Sternebeck. He had lost five of his seven tanks in the advance. Peiper, it
seems, was furious at yet more delays to his advance.

Clearly outgunned by the
Germans, the men from B Battery surrendered after Sternebeck's attack. Peiper
himself went to the Baugnez Crossroads and brusquely ordered Sternebeck to move
on. The 113 American prisoners-of-war who had survived the attack were assembled
in a field near the Café Bodarwé at the crossroads - this figure included
eight Americans who had already been captured by Peiper. A young Belgium boy
witnessed what happened next.

At about 14.15, soldiers
from the 1st SS Panzer Division opened fire on the 113 men who were in the
field. The firing stopped at about 14.30. Soldiers from Peiper's unit went
around the field and shot at close range anyone who seemed to be alive - or
clubbed them to death as later autopsies showed. Incredibly, some prisoners did
get away after feigning death. It was three of these escapees that came across
Pergrin.

Colonel Pergrin had heard
the attack by Sternebeck and went to investigate, first in a jeep and then on
foot. Near Five Points, three Americans rushed up to Pergrin. It was these men
who first alerted the Americans that something had gone on at the crossroads.
Pergrin took the wounded men to Malmédy
and at 16.40 contacted the First Army's headquarters to inform them that some
sort of massacre had taken place at Five Points.

Because of the nature of
the Battle of the Bulge, no one side could
claim the land that the dead men lay in. It was only from January 14th, 1945,
on that the Americans could lay claim to the area around the crossroads and
claim the bodies. 71 snow-covered bodies were recovered. The freezing weather
had done a lot to preserve the bodies and that made the autopsies easier,
especially as some had been covered in snow.

On December 17th, 21
survivors of the massacre made statements to the American authorities in Malmédy.
Their accounts were remarkably similar despite the fact that they had had little
time to discuss their experiences.

When the massacre took
place, Peiper had left the area around Five Points and had moved on. He was not
at the scene when the shooting started. However, on December 12th, it is said
that Hitler had issued an order which stated that no prisoners were to be taken
and that a "wave of terror" was to descend on the Allies who stood in
the way of the offensive. However, in the trial at
Dachau no written evidence was produced to substantiate this and, as evidence,
the court ignored it. Also Peiper's men had taken prisoners in their advance
prior to the Malmédy incident. So what happened?

The sheer number of
prisoners almost certainly sealed the fate of the Americans. Over 100 prisoners
could not be left where they were - in the field. But there was no spare
capacity for the Germans to guard them as Peiper had ordered the SS units under
his command to speed up their advance.
They could not be sent marching back towards the German lines as Peiper only had
control of one main road and his unit was using it. Any men marching in the
opposite direction could easily clog up the road. Peiper's other worry was that
he might be attacked by American units known to be in the area.

Two theories have been put
forward to explain what happened.

The men were deliberately
murdered in cold blood. Certainly, the 1st SS Panzer Division had been
responsible for atrocities in Russia and they had already shot captured
Americans in their advance in the Ardennes Offensive - and more were shot after Malmédy.
It is possible that Major Werner Poetschke, who commanded the 1st SS Panzer
Battalion, gave the order - but no evidence has proved this, just rumour.

Another theory put forward
is that some Americans tried to escape and were fired on by the Germans. Other
Germans heard the firing, but were not aware that the targets were three
Americans as opposed to all of the group. Either trigger-happy or simply
battle-hardened, they opened fire on the group as a
whole. In October 1945, an American soldier made a sworn testimony that he had
escaped with two other men (who were killed) but he had survived and made it
back to US lines. The law as it stood then would have allowed the Germans to
shoot at escaping prisoners - but not at the whole group. It is possible that
their escape precipitated the shooting of the other men.

In May 1946, Peiper had 70
of his men were put on trial. The charge stated

"That
they willfully, deliberately and wrongfully permit, encourage, aid, abet
and participate in the killing, shooting, ill treatment, abuse and
torture of members of the armed forces of the United States of
America."

Forty-three of those
accused were sentenced to death and the rest received prison sentences. The
death sentences were commuted to prison sentences and all the men were out of
prison by the end of 1956.